Car-loader.



Patented .Iuly I7,' |900. C. H. SALE. cAn LoAnEn.

(Application med Oct. 19, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet .L

(No lModel.)

N0. 653,908. Patented July I7, |900.

' C. H. GALE.

A:mi LuAnEn.

lApplicntion led Oct. 19, 1899.1 (No Rodel.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Nrrnn VSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES II. GALE, OF ELM CREEK, NEBRASKA.

CAR-LOADER.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 653,908, dated July 1'7', 1900. Application led October 19, 1899. berial No. 7311.107.` (No model.)

.T0 @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. GALE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elm Creek, in the county of Bualo and State of Nebraska, have invented a newv and useful Car-Loader, of which the following is a speciflcation.

This invention relates to car-loaders, the object in View being to provide a loading appara-tus which may be quickly adjusted to any freight-car for the purpose of facilitating the loading of grain or other commodity into the carin order that the extreme end portions of the car may be lled without requiring any special attention on the part of the operator. In connection with the apparatus I employ an endless carrier and provide means whereby said carrier may be readily shifted longitudinally, so as to project into either end of the car, while a portion of the carrier lies in front of the car-door opening in position to receive the grain.

The invention also contemplates means for driving the carrier from either end, provision being made whereby the driving element may be quickly uncoupled from and coupled to one of the rollers of the carrier.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the course of the ensuing description.

The invention consists in a car-loader embodying certain novel features and details of construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and incorporated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view, in horizontal section, of a car and grain elevator, showing the loading apparatus constructed and applied in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the car-body with the apparatus in position therein. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed perspective view of the carrier, showing the manner of supporting the same. Fig. 4 is a section taken transversely of the carrier, showing also the supporting-bar of the carrier and the extensible tumbling-shaft for driving the carrier.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

For the purpose of illustration I have shown in the drawings an ordinary car-body 1, standing adjacent to a grain-elevator 2, from which a discharge-pipe 3 leads through one of the door-openings 4 of the car-body, so as to deliver the grain upon the carrier, hereinafterv particularly described. In carrying out the present invention I employ an endless apron 5,'of flexible material, provided with transverse slats 6 upon its outer grain-receiving surface. This apron travels around and is actuated bya pair of rollers 7 and 8, the shafts 9 of which are journaled in suitable bearingopenings in a pair of parallel bars 10, forming portions of the frame of the carrier, as shown in Fig.` 3. The shafts 9 are extended laterally beyond the outer face of one of the side bars l0, and their extremities are cross-v sectionally squared, as indicated at 1l, to enable the`driving-shaft hereinafter described to be detachably coupled thereto.

To each of the side bars 10 is secured a lon Vgitudinal guide l2, consisting,'preferably, of

a stout rod, the main or body portion of which is parallel to its respective side bar l0 and is arranged in a plane beneath the bar 10. The end portions of the guide 12 are bent upward, as shown at 13, and extended inward toward each other, as at 14, their extremities l5 be ing bent laterally and inserted in the adjacent side bar 10 of the carrier-frame. The portions 14 of the guides are offset at an intermediate point, as shown at 16, to pass around and leave room for the'shafts'9 ofthe rollers 7 and 8.

The carrier above described is mounted upon a supporting bar or beam 17 of a length approximately equal to the width of an ordinary car. site ends with terminal clips 18, which are slotted, as shown at 19, to receive bolts, screws, or other fasteners 20, by means of which the clips are attached to the supporting-bar and capable of being adjusted in and out thereon for adapting the supporting-bar to cars of dierent Widths. The clips 18 are designed to rest upon the top edges of'the grain-doors 2l, as shown in Fig. l, andare provided with down-bent extremities 22,forming iianges for engaging theouter surface of the grain-doors, thus 'enabling the supporting-bar to be firmly secured to the graindoors. The supporting-bar 17 is also provided This bar is provided at its oppof IOO at suitable points with eyes 23, through which the guides 12 are adapted to slide in adj usting the carrier longitudinally, the said eyes serving also to connect the carrier to its supporting-bar. The carrier is further provided at each corner with a suspendin-g-rope 24, and While one end of the carrier is supported upon the bar 17 the opposite or free end of the carrier is adapted to be supported from the roof of the car by means of the ropes 24 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2.

For driving the apron of the carrier I employasectionaltumbling-shaft 25. Saidshaft comprises sections which are connected together by means of universal joints, as shown at 26, so that the shaft will operate even though the sections may not be in proper alinement. One of the shaft-sections is provided with an enlarged end portion 27, having a cross-sectionally-irregular socket 28, corresponding to the shape of the ends of the roller-shafts 9, whereby said parts may be coupled and rotatably connected. The other section of the tumbling-shaft is similarly provided with a terminal socket 29, adapted to fit over the squared end of a shaft 30, projecting from the outside of the grain-elevator 2. The socket 29 is made of considerable length, so as to make the driving-shaft longitudinally extensible and adapt it to be the more readily and quickly adjusted into Working relation with the loading device after the latter has been placed in the car. The shaft 30 is mounted in suitable bearings 3l, preferably upon the inside of the grain-elevator, and has splined thereon a pair of reverselydisposed bevel-pinions 32, which are yoked together by a sleeve 33 and adapted to be slid longitudinally on the shaft 30 by means of a shipping-lever 34, f ulcru med intermediate its ends on a bracket 35. is provided With a fork 36, which engages a grooved hub extension of one of the bevelpinions 32, so that by rocking said lever the pinions 32 may be simultanously shifted in either direction for bringing one or the other of said pinions into mesh with an actuating bevel-wheel 37, mounted ixedly upon a counter-shaft 38, operated by a driving-belt 39. and band-pulley 40.

In adjusting the apparatus to a car the car is moved toa position which will bring one side of the door-opening into approximate alinement with the driving-shaft. The supporting-bar 17 is then placed upon the grain-doors at or near one side of the door-opening, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the carrier, with its apron 5, is moved as far as it will go toward the same end of the car. Bythis means a portion of the apron 5 is left in front of the door-opening, so as to receive-the grain as it is discharged from the pipe 3. The drivingshaft is then coupled to the adjacent end of the carrier and the shifting-lever 34 of the reversing mechanism is vibrated in a direction Which will cause the upper portion of the apron 5 to be moved toward the end of the The shipping-lever 34.

car. This operation is kept up until one end of the car has been filled with the grain or other material, after which the driving-shaft is uncoupled from the carrier, the supporting-bar 17 is fixed at the opposite side of the door-opening, and the endless carrier is shifted longitudinally so as to extend into the opposite end of the carfrom that which has just been filled, the free end of the carrier being suspended from the top of the car by means of the ropes 24. The car having been moved a sufficient distance to bring the supportingbar 17 about in line with the shaft 30 the driving-shaft is nour coupled to the shaft of the roller at the opposite end of the carrier,

and the shifting-lever is then moved to the opv posite position, so as to reverse the direction of rotation of the driving-shaft and actuate the endless apron 5 in a direction opposite to that in which it was previouslyr actuated. In this manner both ends of the car are loaded with grain, after which the carrier is removed from the car and the grain or other material is discharged from the spout 3 into the central portion of the car, thereby completing the operation of loading the car. In order to insure the operation of the endless apron 5, the shafts 9 are preferably provided on One side of the carrier with sprocket-wheels 4l to receive a sprocket-chain 42, whereby one roller is caused to drive the other roller. In View of the above description it will be seen that the endless crrrier may be shifted longitudinally from one end of the car to the other and that either end roller of the carrier may be operatively coupled to the driving-shaftV after the carrier has been shifted; also, that the direction of rotation of the driving-shaft may be reversed.

The apparatus is simple in construction, effective and reliable in operation, and will be found of great convenience in loading cars with grain and other commodities.

The pipe 3 is provided with a reversible spout 43 in the form of an elbow extension, which may be turned so as to face toward either end of the car for delivering the grain well into the apron of the carrier.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction, operation, and many advantages of the herein-described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

1. A car-loader comprising an endless conveyer for carrying the material from the center of the car to the end thereof, a transverse conveyer-support carried by the car structure, and means shiftably connecting the conveyer to the transverse support to permit said IOO IIO

conveyer to be shifted to eitherend of the car without disconnection from said transverse support.

2. A car-loader comprising an endwiseshiftable conveyer for carrying the material from the center of the car to one end or the other thereof, and a transverse conveyer-supporting device connected to the car structure above the floor, said conveyer being shiftable upon the supporting device to positions Wholly at opposite sides thereof.

3. A car-loader comprising an endwise conveyer for carrying the material to either end of the car from the center thereof, a transverse supporting-bar detachably connected to the car structure above the floor at the center of the car and shiftably supporting the conveyer to permit it to be shifted Without detachment from the bar to positions Wholly at one side of the bar7 and means for operating the conveyer in reverse directions when in its opposite positions.

4. In a car-loader, the combination with a supporting member, and means for detachably connecting said member to the car structure at a point above the floor, of a conveyer carried by the member and shiftable endwise upon the member to occupy a position wholly at either side of the member, and means for supporting the outer end of the conveyer.

5. In a car-loader, the combination With a supporting-bar, and means carried by said bar for effecti-ng its detachable connection to the car structure above the floor, of a conveyer endwise shiftable upon the bar to occupy positions Wholly at opposite sides of the bar, and means for detachably connecting actuating mechanism to the conveyer, whereby said loader is readily detachable from the car and from its operating mechanism.

6. In a car-loader, the combination with a transverse supporting bar, of a longitudinally-shiftable frame, runners carried by the frame and slidably fitted to said supportingbar, and a conveyer carried by the conveyerframe, the slidable connection of the runners to the bar permitting the frame to be shifted to positions wholly at opposite sides of the bar Without disconnecting the frame from the bar.

7. In a car-loader, the combination with a support, and means for connecting said support to the car structure, of a shiftable conveyer-frame carried by the support and end- ,wise shiftable thereon to occupy positions wholly at opposite sides thereof, and means for suspending the end of the conveyer-frame, opposite the support, from the car structure at apoint above the floor, and a conveyer carried by the conveyer-frame.

S. In a car-loader, an endless-belt carrier having shafts at opposite ends, and a supporting-bar to Which the carrier is attached and upon which it is adapted to slide, in combination with a driving-shaft coupled to one of the carrier-shafts and adapted to be disconnected therefrom and coupled directly to the shaft at the other end of the carrier, substantially as described.

9. In a car-loader, the combination with a su pporting-bar provided with eyes, of a longitudinally-shiftable carrier having longitudinal guides or runners passing through said eyes, substantially as described.

l0. In a car-loader, the combination With aA longitudinally-shiftable endwise conveyer, of a transverse supporting bar therefor, and terminal clips longitudinally ad justabie upon said bar, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

ll. In a car-loader, the combination With a longitudinally-shiftable carrier, of a supporting-bar therefor, and longitudinally-slotted terminal clips on said bar adjustably *con nected thereto, and having bent extremities, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

l2. In a car-loader, the combination with a supporting-bar provided with eyes, of a longitudinally-shiftable carrier having guides or runners extending longitudinally thereof and passing through said eyes, and'devices at the ends of the carrier for suspending the latter from an overhead support, substantially as described. l

In testimony that I claim the foregoing asl my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES II. GALE.

Witnesses:

J. M. FoRRrsTALL, D. C. BOND. 

